Picture hanger



Nov. 13, 1962 H. J. MORRISON PICTURE HANGER INVENTOR [Zr/racism v Jags Filed Sept. 19, 1960 United States Patent Ofitice 3,@63,566 Patented Nov. 13, 1962 3,063,666 PICTURE HANGER Howard J. Morrison, Chicago, Ill. (1371 Arbor Ave., Highland Park, llll.) Filed Sept. 19, 1960, Ser. No. 56,797 2 Claims. (Cl. 248--31) This invention relates to a hanger and more particularly to an improved nail-less hanger for pictures and the like adapted to be secured to a wall or other supporting surface, without marring, penetrating or damaging said surface, while permitting a fairly wide range of both vertical and horizontal adjustments of the objects to be hung.

The present trend in the development of picture hanging devices of various sorts all take into consideration and obviate the use of any device necessitating the use of a nail and the damage inherent in penetrating a wall or comparable surface. One of the primary objections to the use of a nail or other penetrating device is that it tends to crack plaster, produce unsightly holes when pictures are removed, and such devices demand fairly skilled use of a hammer, often by unskilled persons. This recent trend has seen the utilization of rectangularly shaped cotton cloth including a backing of water activated adhesive, such as a casein type glue to permit simple gluing of the hanging device to the wall, such clothembracing a hooking means and oftentimes interlocking hooking means.

However, prior developments, even of the cloth type, have overlooked and failed to overcome one of the basic limitations on nail devices. Namely, I refer to the fact :hat a nail once inserted into a wall cannot be moved even a fraction of an inch to permit the slightest rearrangement or realignment of the picture. in order to ac- :ommodate this limitation, any such nail device necessitates precise measurement and alignment prior to in- ;ertion and should this measurement or alignment be ;lightly off, two holes in close proximity may be required and may unduly strain the strength of the wall or present 111 unsightly appearance.

The adhesive cloth hanger previously referred to has also been limited as to adjustability, the only adjustment )ccurring because of the slipperiness of the glue permit- ;ing the cloth to be moved slightly to one side or the ther during the initial part of t e fastening process. I-Iowever, this has not been a satisfactory solution, inasnuch as any movement tends to diminish the quantity 3f glue present to secure the device to the Wall and no novement at all can occur once the glue has dried.

Therefore, it is a primary object of this invention to arovide a nail-less hanger for pictures and the like which s adapted to be secured to a wall or other supporting :urface without marring, penetrating or damaging said aurface, and which permits both vertical and horizontal :djustability of the picture or object to be hung.

Further objects of this invention are to provide a )icture hanging device of the type described which may e used with many types of existing hangers; to provide tnew and unique wire hanging device for easy attachment the picture frame; to provide a particular embodiment )f such invention which may be used on either the wall )r the picture by simply reversing the hanging device to provide a more stable retention of the picture or object to be hung; to provide such a device which is easy, simple and inexpensive to manufacture and which is simple to use.

Further objects and advantages of the instant device will be evident from an examination of the more particular description and from the drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of one form of the preferred louvered hanging device;

FIGURE 1a is a side clevational view of the louvered device shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 2 shows a front elevational view of a preferred attaching means;

FZGURE 2a shows the preferred attaching means of FIGURE 2 positioned on the rear of a picture frame;

FEGURE 2b shows a side elevational view of the preferred attaching means;

FIGURE 3 shows yet another embodiment of the louvered panel hanging device; and

FIGURE 4 shows a side elevational view of the em bodiment shown in FIGURE 3.

As best seen in FIGURES l and 2 the instant picture hanging device is comprised generally of two basic ele-' ments. The first is the wall hanging element 1 and the second is the picture hooking means 11.

As seen in FIGURE 1 the wall attaching element 1 comprises a generally rectangular, fairly stiff plate including a number of vertically spaced and horizontally extending slits through the plate each forming an upper edge 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20, within the plane of the plate and lower edge 5, 6, 7, 3 and 9 spaced outwardly therefrom. The rear surface of the plate is preferably coated with casein glue lb or other water activated adhesive to prrmit easy attachment to a wall surface. Also, a preferred form of attachment means is shown in FlGURE 1a in which an elongated strip of fabric or material such as cotton cloth' is coated on its rear face with a layer of water activated adhesive such as casein type glue, the cotton cloth in-- cluding a bottom mounting tab 22 generally parallel with the back surface of the attachment plate with its rear face outwardly from the plate, the tab being returned unof a water activated adhesive if used directly on the back thereof.

The outwardly and upwardly extending edges of the louvers 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 extend outwardly not only in relationship to the plate, but also to the wall when the,

plate is secured thereto.

Thus, the upper surfaces of the edges 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 readily receive any hooking means secured to the rear of the picture frame not only at any vertical level but also at any point horizontally on such edge surface. Thus, the instant attachment plate accommodates a range of adjustment substantially equivalent to the width of the louvered upper edges, and the vertical distance from the top edge 5 and to the bottom edge 9. This then accom- However, the plate 1 is preferably 3 rnodates .adjustment of the picture during initial hanging or to permit rearrangement of picture groupings by per rnitting precise alignment of one picture with respect to the next without the necessity of re-securing the picture hanging device to the wall or other surface.

An ideal hooking device to be used with the louvered attaching plate is the attaching means shown in FIG- URE 2 and identified by the numeral 11. This book is preferably made from piano wire, such as No. 18 or No. 20 gauge, and is generally arc'uate in shape and terminates in two oppositely extending inwardly projecting spike elements 13 and 15 respectively. The ends of these spike elements 13 and 15 are sharpened into a fine point and may be inserted into the sides of the rear portion of the picture frame by means of pliers to achieve the final position indicated in FIGURE 2a. The central portion of the 'arcuate wire hook is curved into a rearwardly and outwardly extending hook member '29 which extends outwardly oppositely to the aforementioned spike elements.

The arcuate shape of the device 11 permits each hook to be:used-with picture frames of varying widths. Further, the upwardly and forwardly projecting spike elements 13 and 15 cooperate with the downwardly and rearwardly extending hook to insure firm attachment of the device to the picture when hung. Namely, the force on the book 29 is upwardly causing the spike elements 13 and 15 to bite progressively deeper into the spaced sides of the picture frame depending upon the weight of the object to be hung and'the downward forces acting upon it.

Indeed, almost any hooking means could be used with the aforedescribed attachment plate to provide a new cooperation therebetween; namely, utilizing the hook and the aforementioned attachment plate in combination to achieve a wide-variety of positions both vertically and horizontally in :respect to the wall without reattachment of either .the hook or the attachment plate with respect to either the picture frame or the wall. However, in view of the development of the art in this particular field it is to be particularly noted that the hooks of severalprior patents are ideally suited for the new cooperation ;with the instant attachment plate, and I refer particularly to ;the hooking means shown and described in the .patent to Margulis, No. 2,809,001, and the hooking meansshown in thepatcnt to Ravinovitch, No. 2,724,568.

A preferred embodiment of the subject invention is showninbothFIGURES 3 and 4. Here the basic attachmentplate previously described-in connection with FIG- URE l is modified to provide a plurality of downwardly and rearwardly extending tongues 55, 57, 59* and 61, formed from that part of the plate immediately adjacent the top edge of and centrally along each of the. aforementioned slits. The tongues =are slanted inwardly and downwardly opposite the slant of the louver, and are formed by two cuts or slits generally angular to each other on either side of the central portion 55, one cut 56 extending at .an angle to and from the end of the lower edge, and meets the second tongue defining cut 53 ata point removed from the lower edge. While each of the :plates are basically identical, each is provided with spaced parallel strengthening and spacing strips 6 3 and 65 yadjacenteachvertical edge, but on opposing faces of the platedepending upon whether the plate is to be used on the wall or on the picture. That is, if the plate is used on the wall, the strips will be on the same side of the plate as the tongue, whereas if the plate is to be used on the picture, the strips will be on the same side of the plate as the louvers.

In use, the preferred embodiment of the attachment plate is packaged with two identical plates, the first for attachment to the wall and the second for attachment to the picture. One plate is then secured to awall by means of the glue. The opposite attachment plate is then secured to the rear=surface of the picture with the louvers placed adjacent the-frame surface or picture surface, with the tonguesSS, 57, 59 and 61 projecting outwardly and downwardly from the-picture. The picture then may be-inoved to the wall and the tongues respectively placed in louvers 5, 6, 7, S and 9 in the position desired. It is to be noted that the upper edges of each of the louvers will receive the cut out portions and rest upon the apexes formed thereby on either side of the tongue portion to provide spaced supporting surface preventing the picture from Wobbling by virtue of Wind or jarring. Further, since the strengthening and spacing strips 63 and 65- are mounted upon opposing faces of the :respective plates, each plate will lie flat against the wall and picture frame respectively. Indeed, if the adhesive is secured to the rear faces of these strips a firm secure attachment will be attained between the respective plates and the wall or picture. Further, this vertical support throughout the length of each of the plates assures proper support regardless of which position the tongues-may be engaged with respect to the louvers.

Also, without departing from the scope of the invention, each of the plates forming the subject matter of the embodiments represented in FIGURES 3 and 4 may be provided with a horizontal slit and a cloth adhesive attaching means of the type indicated in FIGURES 1 and 1a.

Wherefore from the foregoing description and from the drawings it is seen that a nail-less hanger for pictures and the like has been provided which may be secured to a wall or other supporting surface without marring, pene= trating or damaging-said surface and which permits both vertical and horizontal adjustment of the picture to be hung; which may be used with many types of existing picture hanger hooks, which includes a particular embodiment utilizing the identical plate which may simply be reversed for attachment to either the wall or the picture and which is inherently interlocking to provide stable retention of the picture or object to be hung; which device and the embodiment thereof are easy, and inexpensive to manufacture and use, and includes a new and unique wire hanging device for easy attachment to the picture frame. I

The invention is hereby claimed as follows:

1. In a picture hanging device including a first element attachable to a wall and a second element attachable to the rear of a picture frame, wherein said first and second elements are identical but reversed in orientation and each of said elements comprises a rectangularly shaped plate including a series of vertically spaced horizontally extending cuts, each of said cuts forming a first and a second edge surface, said'first edge surface being spaced outwardly in one direction from and being parallel to said plate, and each of said second edges including spaced slits defining a tongue slanting outwardly and downwardly in the other direction from said plate, said first element being attachable to said wall with said lower edge surfaces extending outwardly therefrom, and said second element being attachable to the rear surface of a picture with said tongues extending outwardly therefrom, said first edges on said first element for receiving said tongues formed on said second edges of said second element.

2. In a picture hanging device including a first element attachable to a wall and a second element attachable to the rear of a picture frame, wherein said first and second elements are identical but reversed in orientation and each of said elements comprise a rectangularly shaped plate including a series of vertically spaced horizontally extending cuts, each of said cuts forming a first and a second edge surface, said first edge surface being spaced outwardly in two directions from and being parallel to said plate, and each of said second edges including tongue defining cuts, one cut extending from the end of each of said edges and meeting a second tongue delineating cut on either side of said downwardly and oppositely projecting tongue, said first element including two vertically extending strips each adjacent a vertical edge and secured on the same side of said plate with said tongues for attachment to said wall, and said second element ineluding two vertically extending strengthening and spacing elements each secured adjacent a vertical edge and extending outwardly from said plate in the same direction as said louvers for attachment to the rear surface of a picture, said first edges on said first element for receiving said tongues formed on said second edges of said second element.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,930,180 Naylor Oct. 10, 1933 

